The desirability of more powerful, yet smaller, machine guns and other types of automatic weapon systems is increasing. In some conventional weapon systems, operating systems with impulse averaging have been used to mitigate the recoil loads and receiver excitation, particularly in systems that use higher impulse rounds. Typically, these operating systems require fixing the barrel to the operating group to create a relatively massive, long recoil stroke operating group.
There are several drawbacks to these conventional systems. The long stroke excursion of such a large mass may reduce firing rate and add complexity to the weapon. Additionally, such weapons may be sensitive to recoiling mass, and therefore, barrel weight. Moreover, such weapons may be sensitive to variation in friction and gravity effects.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved weapon systems to address these issues. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.